Had to read for class. It's a very smart novel, but doesn't feel like it has characters or a plot. I can recognize the Quality of the book, without finding it particularly interesting.

It seems to be commenting about manifest destiny and the paradoxical nature of enlightment rationalism and the sheer amount violent that occurred in the name of manifest destiny and westward expansion. It's probably the second most violent book I've ever read after American Psycho.

The violence in Blood Meridian doesn't exactly bother me, it all feels so impersonal and though it graphic and pretty detailed, it isn't very personal and, given that no one is strongly developed as a character, it just doesn't really cause much of an emotional response.

It kind of seems like a book by a man that is aware of his writing prowess that wanted to write something Risque and Notable, and it worked. It's a book you can probably read 10+ times and continue to get things out of, but I will likely not read it again.